HK MacLeHose Trail (Y2011 Winter Trek)

BASIC INFORMATION

Trek: Y2011 Winter Trek

Date: 1- 10 December 2011

Location: HK MacLeHose Trial, Sai Kung, Hong Kong

Length: approx 100km

Duration: 10D9N

BRIEF ITINERARY

Day 0

Flight to HK

Day 1

Stage 1, 2

Day 2

Stage 3, 4

Day 3

Stage 4 (continued), 5, 6, 7

Day 4

Stage 8, 9 ,10

“Hong Kong got mountains meh?”

That was the typical response we got when we told people that we were heading to HK for our year-end expedition. Indeed, it was pretty hard to imagine that besides shopping and eating (recall HK tourism advertisement of 买东西吃东西), the trek presented a whole new angle of what this highly-urbanized country could offer. Specifically for our year-end expedition, we targeted to complete the 100km MacLehose trail, the oldest and longest trail in HK.

Set in the mountainous region in New Territories, the MacLehose trail, divided into 10 stages, goes past various important reservoirs, sights and peaks of HK. There were spectacular landmarks, hills and mountains beyond one could ever imagine in the relatively little-known, ultra-long and well-maintained trail. Among many others, a few of the more memorable and curse-inducing ones would probably be Ma On Shan (700 plus meters), Tai Mo Shan (900 plus meters, tallest peak in HK), grassy hill (where a handful of the Trekkers got really acquainted with it and spent a night with her) and NEEDLE HILL (the path to the peak looked like a stairway to heaven). These names would no doubt strike a chord with the expedition team, as we struggled against them and eventually conquered them, relishing every single moment atop them with deep satisfaction.

Every single obstacle we overcame throughout the span of the 4 days had a meaningful story behind it, hence we shall begin retelling the adventures of 21 courageous and dimsum-loving fanatics who embarked on this epic life-altering journey of their lives. It all started on 1st December, 2011…

Day 0

1st December, 2011- The Departure

Our flight to Hong Kong, via Tiger Airways TR2966, departed at 1340hrs.

Although we set to meet at 1100hrs, the bulk of the expedition team reached the airport by 1130hrs at the Budget Terminal’s MacDonald’s, joined by a handful of other SMUXers who came specially to bid us goodbye. Many thanks to the well-wishers; Vincent, SweeChensss, Yilong, SiewHwee, Shyanne, Caroline, Sophia, Keng Wei and ZhongHuan!

With the well-wishers

Shyanne mentioned that Caroline came mainly for the Popeyes at T3 but I’m certain she was there more for sending her awesome trekking friends off to HK on a trip that she would go if she could! Also, my personal gratitude to Siew for bringing me her CC sleeping bag (or else I would have been frozen to death) I think super-enthuYilongwould have purchased a ticket there and then to join us on the trek if not for the lack of trekking essentials. On the 3rd trip with Warren, I was aware that his awesome girlfriend Sophia had always come to support him. Lucky dude!

At about 1215hrs, the expedition team, with the exception of Chiam, Esther and the 3 bikers, readied to check in. After the customary photo-taking, we entered the departure hall and sealed our fates; no more turning back!

16 out of 21! Chiam and Esther took a later flight on the same day while Melanie, Siyuan and Kelvin flew the next day (2/12) after performing their recce for Bike Team Winter Expedition

After a 4-hour long flight, we touched down at HK international airport. Reflective of the peak travelling period and HK as a top tourist destination, the queue at HK’s customs was extremely long. Thank god for WI-FI access; while most of us busied ourselves on our mobile phones, a few, such as Jon, whipped out their iPads and other techie devices.

Transportation in HK is quite idiot-proof. The Octopus card can be said to be the one card that rules them all. It can be used for buses, MTRs (their equivalent of MRTs), taxis and even in various types of shops, vending machines, etc. Some of us who had been to HK had brought along our Octopus cards. The remaining purchased theirs with ease at counters situated within the airport complex. We also bought prepaid phone cards at 7-11 before taking the airport shuttle A21 to Mongkok, where Ah Shan Hostel is located.

While the MTR was equally, if not more, convenient, we opted to take the shuttle bus as it was a much cheaper alternative at 33HKD, compared to the 100KHD for MTR. The journey took less than an hour, and there was WI-FI available for use yet again!

Zephan using FB on his Mac, on the bus

After settling in our hostel, the immediate concern in our minds was food. Luckily for us, directly underneath our building was a food stall. The guys in my room (JJ, ZhiHua, Rico, Jon, Joel, Warren and I) hurried with our unpacking then headed down first to wait for the rest. To pass time, we got ourselves acquainted with the yummy dumplings, mushroom-wrapped-in-meat and other street food.

Awesome street food stall right below our building!

Once all of us were prepped and ready to go, our SMUX contact in HK, Daniel, met up with us and brought us to dinner at Café De Coral. With our stomachs sated for the night, it was time to shop for groceries that would last us for the following 4 days in the wilderness.

Daniel brought us to a supermarket which, interesting enough, had many First Choice products, the home brand in our Singapore’s Cold Storage if I’m not mistaken. We arrived at the place with 30 minutes left before closing time at 2300hrs. In a frenzy, we managed to find what we were looking for, or improvised on the spot and readily swopped any foodstuff we couldn’t find with one that can never ever go wrong- INSTANT NOODLES!

In this trek, the expedition team was further divided into 3 groups- Siew Mai with Ying Liang as GL, HarGao with Tosh as GL and Wanton with Nic as GL. My group, AKA group SiewMai, had quite a delightful spread of food.

GROUP SIEW MAI MENU:

Dinner on Day 1, 02.12.12

Steamboat with mee, CP wanton, two types of balls and scallop

Fried nuggets

Breakfast on Day 2, 03.12.12

Prata

Bread with peanut butter

Hashbrown

Tea

Dinner on Day 2, 03.12.12

Spaghetti with Campbell soup and mushroom

Canned luncheon meat

Breakfast on Day 3, 04.12.12

Cococrunch with choice of milo or milk

Milano biscuits

Dinner on Day 3, 04.12.12

Maggie mee

Grass Jelly

Breakfast on Day 4, 05.12.12

Biscuits

Ovaltine

Leftovers

Kay… Maybe not so delightful after all. In planning for our menu, we had decided to indulge a bit for the first day since we could afford to bring frozen food and eat them before they turned bad. Day 3 was the most pathetic since it was going to be an insanely long day without any time to wine and dine in style.

For the food plus 18 bottles of water/electrolytes, we spent about 670HKD. Team Wantonspent approximately the same amount while HarGao was the cheapest at 619HKD.

Ying Liang happy with her Koko Crunch!

Most cheapskatecost-efficient Team: HarGao

Team Wanton with their groceries ( they brought eggs and Emile protected them like how a hen would)

So HK, probably in an attempt to initiate various green movements, requires shoppers to purchase plastic bags. Being typical Singaporeans, we refused to pay more than we should and struggled back to the hostel with minimal number of plastic bags overflowing with stuff. Other than having a bottle or two rolling off onto the busy streets of Mongkok, and losing our way for a while, we managed to get back to our hostel without much fuss. Losing our way in an urban setting… Imagine what would be of us when we had to battle with nature!

By the time we got back, Chiam and Esther had settled into the hostel. We did a short briefing regarding the next day at the common place outside most of the rooms at level 14 and distributed the food among our respective teams. We placed our frozen food into the freezer, did final packing (including taking out the non-essentials to be left at the hostel), cleaned up and retired for the night sometime past 1am. It was a pretty eventful and tiring day before the real deal kicked in the very next day…

Day 1

2nd December, 2011- The Beginning

… Or more like within the next few hours. We roused from our sleep at about 0500hrs and headed to a breakfast place a few of us found the night before for quality porridge. We purchased more foodstuff at 7-11 to eat along the way in case we got hungry before lunchtime. Luckily for ZhiHua and JJ, it was mentioned casually that we should have brought along our own lunches for the next few days, prompting them to purchase their meals which they had forgotten to do so. The selection at 7-11 was quite small, so I think ZhiHua ended up with a box of pocky for one lunch, and a packet of seaweed for another. We came to realise that it was not much of an issue that some people brought too little lunch since others brought so much more. Examples: Nic and Matt with their !@#$ number of energy bars and Tosh with his 2kg worth of trail mix!

We gathered once again at the common space at level 14, henceforth known as the COMMON SPACE. After performing final checks of items, with our humongous haversacks resting on our strong muscular frames, we marched down/ took elevator down to the ground level and… TOOK PHOTOS.

Outside the building of Ah Shan Hostel

To get to the start of MacLehose Trail, we took the MTR from Mongkok Station at 0730hrs for 6 stops to Diamond Hill station, and then went out through Exit C2. At the bus terminal, we boarded bus 92 at 0810hrs, reaching the end of the bus route at Sai Kung at 0905hrs. We transferred over to bus 94 at 0930hrs, and finally arrived at the Sai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre at 0955hrs. Bus 94 comes periodically in 30 minutes interval. Total journey time was approximately 2.5hrs.

Some enterprising Hong Kong people saw and seized the money-making opportunity by opening up a convenience store located right before the start of the MacLehose trail. Enticed by the nice smell of the curry fishballs and siewmais, a handful of us purchased some food and savoured every single bite, not knowing when would we have the fortune of eating such scrumptious food again…

-Spoiler alert- That would be Day 3 if you exclude the beancurd we got to eat later that day. –Spoiler ends-

Food store at Sai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre

Warm-up followed right after the binging and then off we go in search of MacLehose Trail at 1010hrs.

Nic, our safety IC, made us do push-ups for warm-up

ActuallySai Kung Country Park Visitor Centre wasn’t exactly very close to the start point… We ventured down a motor road for 20 minutes before the board signifying the start of MacLehose Trail was in sight. At that point in time, a 20-minute walk was probably considered a lengthy distance, but I bet our perspective changed after the tens of hours of trek during the next few days…

The signboard at 1030hrs did incite much excitement within our group, and when we got excited, we… TOOK PHOTOS!

Team Siew Mai consisting of Jiajun (JJ), Jon Chng, ZhiHua (NUS), Joyce, Eugene , Ying Liang and Kelvin (not with us yet).

Team HarGao with Sixuan (Chiam), Chloe, Esther (Angry Bird/Bao Qing Tian/joy of the trek), Tosh, Warren, Rico and Siyuan (not with us yet).

Team Wanton, made up of Emile, Matthew, Zephan, Mei Lin, NicWah, Joel and Melanie (not with us yet).

Day 1 Important Trekking Info:

Distance

Stage 1 and 2

M1 to between M47 and M48

About 24 km

Trekking information with Terrain conditions

Stage 1:

- Set off at 1030hrs.

- Motor road with slight incline for stage 1, with little or no shade as path was extremely exposed. Scenic surroundings with wide view of the reservoirs.

- M10 at 1145hrs. 1/20 of the trail done!

- A rest pavilion with portable toilet was present slightly beyond M18.

- We arrived at the pavilion at about 1245hrs, and had our 25-minute lunch break until 1310hrs.

Stage 2:

- At the end of stage 1, transiting to stage 2, there were many flights of stairs to head down until flat ground, where a pristine sandy beach was situated.

- Beyond M22, rather steep incline alternating between steps and dirt path until steep downslope to SaiWan Village at M30.

- Two rest pavilions, at M23 and M25, providing shade in the otherwise completely exposed ridgeline.

- We reached M23 at 1408hrs, and took a 10-minute break. M25 was achieved at 1515hrs, and we rested until 1525hrs.

- Some stores at Sai Wan (slightly beyond M30) offered overpriced drinks, ice cream, tauhuay, etc. Many dogs loitered around.

- We took a 15-minute break until 1705hrs at a store and replenished our energy with tauhuay and ice cream.

- From the store to M35, we took only 35 minutes.

- By then, at 1740hrs, the sky was turning dark, and it was quite scary to go through a forested area in the darkness to find M36 and M37. It was with great relief when M37 was found and the path became more distinct and straightforward again.

- At M43, about 1920hrs, we encountered a bunch of youths setting up a campsite by the beach. Also present was a toilet with running taps and working flushes.

- We reached M45 at 1945hrs, and beyond the marker was yet another paved upslope.

- The upslope continued on until we reached our campsite, Ngau Wu Tun Campsite, at 2010hrs.

- Campsite: Ngau Wu Tun Campsite, AKA Pak Tam Au Campsite, is a big campground that can accommodate up to 10 tents. There is a dry toilet pit, as well as benches and BBQ pits for use. Seasonal water source, supposedly from the stream, was not present when we were there.

Duration

- Guidebook stated 3 hours for stage 1. We took about 2.5 hours.

- Guidebook stated 5 hours for stage 2. We took about 7 hours.

- Our timings included break times.

Narrative

For someone who had been too involved with jungle-trekking, open-trail trekking was definitely refreshing and invigorating. Stage 1 of MacLehose fully illustrated the wonders of the trail’s well-maintained and open path, providing us with much space to manoeuvre in any way we liked and walking in any formation we wanted since there was no fear of getting lost; if someone was 200-300metres away, you probably could still see him as the path was pretty straight, exposed and huge. Another superb way of demarcating the 100km path was to place distance markers M1 to M200, so for every 500m or so, we could find a marker to tell us that we were heading in the right way.

Distance Marker M18, just before lunch point

And… While certain mountains feed you small bits of eye-candies along the way, views which would most likely culminate at the ridgeline after days of trekking (Eg. Tahan)… This Hong Kong Trek did not bother with the teasing but instead went straight into the main course and flooded you with spectacular views again and again, no holds barred!

So what did we do when we get excited by all these scenic views? We… TOOK PHOTOS! Haha. So many people were armed with their cameras, small digital ones and big-ass DSLR types by Joel, JJ and Jon. The sights did justify the non-stop snapping at Stages 1 and 2, but also resulted in uber big gaps between the haves (with camera) and the haves-not (without camera). Almost like a knee-jerk reaction, my mind told me several times that GAPS were BAD, unable to adapt my mentality from jungle-trekking mentality to that of open-trail trekking.

Walking by the reservoir with big gaps

JJ posing by the beautiful blue waters

We breezed through stage 1 and arrived at our lunch point by 1245hrs. Apparently taxis were allowed on stage 1 and we saw many happy people got to where we were via cabs. The cabbies camped pretty long at our lunch point, hoping to earn our business, completely unaware that we were in for the LONG HAUL (i.e. about 180 markers more to go)!

Taxis thinking that we would take them

After lunch, we proceeded on and went down many flights of stairs to arrive at Long Ke Wan, yet another frigging scenic place that deserved loving via some photo-taking. The beach was completely pristine, and only a single complex existed around its vicinity : A drug rehabilitation centre.

The girls at the beach

Up till Long Ke Wan, the trail had been pretty much manageable, but our walk in the park was about to be destroyed at M22, when we encountered the first steep ascent…

M22 to M23 was sheer up, up and up. By that time, the sun was hanging high up in the sky and showing no mercy on us while we trudged along the exposed path. The feeling of walking under the scorching sun while being blown by the chilly gusts was quite indescribable. A stark contrast between hot and cold, both mixed up in the experience. Rico and a couple others came prepared to face the strong winds by donning face masks.

We thought we reached salvation at M23 when we saw a pavilion, and took a 10-minute break from 1408hrs to 1418hrs. It was at that pavilion where I was told by Zephan that the 3 bikers missed their flights … That got me quite flustered, but Zephan made sense in saying that not much could be done so we should just focus on the trek.

The pavilion providing the only shelter from the burn of the sun

Face masks!

So… What goes up must come down right? WRONG! The incline persisted somemore until we reached yet another pavilion at M25. Joel suffered a cramp along the way but nevertheless managed to persevere on. We took another long break at M25 pavilion before leaving at about 1525hrs.

Up and up it went… M23 Pavilion can be seen far behind us.

Putting on happy faces at the M25 Pavilion.

The scenery remained nice but by then, the bulk of us were too tired to camwhore anymore. This situation would take a turn for the worse when night struck and there was a complete media blackout haha… At 1650hrs, we finally reached civilisation at a food store slightly after M30. Torn between trying not to hit night trek and indulging in some tauhuay, we chose the latter. In any case, when we enquired how far we were from our campsite at Pak Tam Au, the store auntie told us we were quite screwed as there was still a long distance to go. It dawned upon us that night trek on the first day seemed like a certainty. We dealt with our dejection in the best way possible; via eating tauhuay.

Despite the prospects of night-trekking on her first trek, on the first day, Chloe’s smile did not waver. Seemed like it did not waver throughout the whole expedition!

After bidding farewell to the store auntie and her weird syrup concoction that had a strong ginger taste (seemed like the norm in HK), we left at 1710hrs with our headlamps readied. Night descended on us at the worst timing; when we were about to enter a dirt path with dense vegetation slightly beyond M35. Between M35 and M37 was a scary affair of hoping not to get lost, since getting lost while night trekking would be the worst blow possible to the team’s morale. ZhiHua, my army buddy from NUS who joined us on this trek, provided much assistance with this part of the navigation, by looking around with his torch to ensure that I did not leave out any obvious path along the way. In fact, he took over the role of the frontman for a short period while I rushed forward to find, with immense relief, M37.

Path beyond M37 was much more distinct. We continued with our trek in the dim lighting of the headtorches, encountering a few night trekkers, trekking in the usual HK style by blaring their music. By then, Nic had succumbed to cramps so Zephan and I decided to split the group up in order for the bulk of the team to reach the campsite first and start with the tent-pitching and cooking.

The front team with me reached M43 at 1920hrs, a campsite by the beach with nice toilet. A group of youths were camping there, and they were huddling together in the cold while enjoying the solace of the area. Knowing that we would be reaching our campsite at M47 soon, we went into overdrive and spent our energy reserves to manoeuvring through the trail, passing by a couple of abandoned villages along the way and going up yet another incline from M45 onwards.

Resting along the trail in the night

At 2010hrs, after about 2 hours of night trekking, we finally reached our campsite! The team trailing us, henceforth known as the Pikachus, reached pretty soon after us. Sleep only came after we set up our campsite and cooked our dinner. My team decided to fry one of our breakfast items for the next day, the hashbrowns, to reward ourselves for a good day of workout.

And while sleep came to us after we filled our stomachs, Zephan, Tosh and Warren sacrificed theirs to head out back to the hostel for resupply, taking back excess weight (include fancy clothes, non-essentials and Macbook) and to fetch Melanie. They decided to spend the night at the hostel before waking up really early and getting back to us in the morning. I had no idea how they managed two days of insufficient sleep but they did.

Compared to the trio, it was such a shaggifying day for me that I was out cold almost in an instant, with the last thoughts lingering on my mind being that we had vastly underestimated the trek…

Day 2

3rd December, 2011- The stars-studded Stage 3 and 4

Day 2 Important Trekking Info:

Distance

- Stage 3 and part of stage 4

- Between M47 and M48 to M82

- About 17 km

- Trekking information with Terrain conditions

Stage 3

- Set off at 0810hrs from campsite.

- At start of Stage 3, there was access to a motor road, nice flushing toilets and VENDING MACHINES.

- Left vending machine at 0829hrs and started off stage 3 with ascending stairs.

- M50 was achieved at 0855hrs. ¼ of trail done!

- Slightly beyond M50, scenic expanse of Stage 1 and 2 can be observed.

- Continued with the steep ascent to arrive at M52 at 0940hrs.

- After M54, we took a left turn at the first intersection, then the left path again at the next intersection.

- We followed the dirt path along the bare grassland and arrived at another junction with a more distinct path.

- We took the left path and after a short upslope, we found ourselves at M57, at 1040hrs. Should have taken the right path at the second intersection after M54.

- Left M57 at 1048hrs.

- Melanie sprained her ankle at 1130hrs.

- Lunch break at 1145hrs until 1215hrs at a shaded area with many split roads, while we assessed the conditions of the team.

- From lunch point, steep upslope persisted until we reached Kai Kung Shan, 399m, at 1405hrs. It is demarcated by M64.

- After deciding to split up the team again, we left at 1420hrs.

- The remaining distance until end of stage 3 consisted of easier ridge walk then descent via stairs to SaiSha road.

- The front team arrived at the end of stage 3, a short distance beyond M68, at 1540hrs. The place was crowded with picnic-goers and serviced by flushing toilets, running taps and VENDING MACHINES.

Stage 4

- After assessing the team’s conditions, we decided to evacuate the injured personnel, Melanie and Nic, accompanied by Warren, who was experiencing knee pain as well. The trio gave up their sleeping bags and warm clothing and helped to bring back excess load once more.

- We set off at 1710hrs in great haste, and went up a road before hitting a relatively flat dirt path and finally reaching M74 at 1754hrs.

- After readying our headtorches, we ascended from M74 via steep flights of steps.

- Arrived at M76 at 1835hrs and took a 10 minute break.

- Slightly after leaving from M77, Emile sprained her foot.

- After bandaging her sprained foot, we proceeded on at 1913hrs and arrived at M77 at 1935hrs.

- The steep gradient continued until M78 at 1956hrs.

- The remaining path until Ngong Ping campsite around M82 was a flat ridgeline walk, some descent via steps then flat ground again.

- We reached the campsite at 2140hrs.

- Campsite: Ngong Ping Campsite, is a big campground that can accommodate up to 20 tents. There is a dry toilet pit, as well as benches and BBQ pits for use. Seasonal water source, supposedly from the stream, was not present when we were there. The campsite was strewn with cow dungs, and we saw wild cattle roaming around.

Duration

- Guidebook stated 4 hours for stage 3. We took about 7.5hrs.

- Guidebook stated 5 hours for stage 4. We took about 4.5hrs for M69-M82, with M82-M94 remaining.

- Our timings included break times, but excluded the 1.5hr rest we took between stage 3 and 4.

Narrative

The worst thing one can face during treks is COLD. It can present itself in various forms; walking in the rain, putting on wet clothes, etc. Thank god for great weather on this trek- It never rained at all. As a result, the greatest battle did not come in the form of walking in the rain, drenched from top to bottom, or putting on disgustingly wet clothes in the morning; it was about getting out from the tent in the freezing cold morning.

I woke up at 0545hrs, and only mustered the guts to come out at 0610hrs. It took about another 30 more minutes for most of the team to get out of their warm and cosy tents and to start cooking breakfast. My group’s prata was nowhere to be found (probably left back in the hostel), so we settled for a simpler meal of bread with spread and hot tea. Our GL, Ying Liang, had the foresight of bringing along a paper cup from Gong Cha for storing of hot liquids!

Zephan, Warren and Tosh brought the much-needed water, electrolytes and Melanie when they returned in the morning. We had a short briefing on what to expect for the day (and night) and off we went at 0810hrs!

Towards Stage 3!

At the start of Stage 3, we indulged in a proper flushing toilet and some drinks from the vending machines. Also, Zephan retrieved his secret stash of more water bottles that we distributed among ourselves before starting on stage 3 proper at 0829hrs.

The nice toilet and the vending machines

The day before, we started our trek with a relatively easy terrain. This day, however, was different. Right from the start of stage 3 were stairs that kept going up. We achieved 25% completion of the trek at M50 at 0855hrs! Slightly beyond M50 was a nice vantage point where we took an awesome group photo.

Up and up. Again!

Vantage point beyond M50.

We pressed on beyond M50, and the sight of the stairs plateauing finally came at 0925hrs, after close to an hour of ascent… But upon reaching the top, there was yet another peak. Sorely disappointed and incredibly lethargic, I was reminded of the Chinese saying, “一山还有一山高”…

Nice stairs brought us high up in the mountains

Slightly after M54 were two junctions. We took both left turns and found ourselves at M57 at 1040hrs after a sizable distance. According to a Westerner we encountered along the way, we should have taken the right path at the 2ndjunction. All’s well that ends well though! At least we got back to the right track.

Resting at M57.

Going up steep incline under the unrelenting sunlight took a heavy toll on us all. We appreciated what little shade M57 could offer and made full use of it, keeping our skin away from the sun just for a little moment before we set off after 8 minutes of break. It was during those 8 minutes that the expedition team discovered that Zephan’s pants had a gaping hole,one that got so much bigger over the next few days. (For more details on the exact location of the hole, please direct your enquires to Zephan himself: D) It was also during that break when Esther, Mei Lin and Joyce, possibly on the verge of heat stroke, started hallucinating untrue things between two members of the expedition… Being absolutely nice people who can hardly ever be found in current society anymore, those two sacrificed their pride and played along to keep them entertained and motivated for the duration of the trek!

We took a 10 minute walk to reach M58 at 1058hrs, where we were rewarded with a fantastic view of Hong Kong Island. While descending to our lunchpoint at 1130hrs, Melanie unfortunately sprained her ankle. We decided to stop for an early lunch when we found a shady decent spot at 1145hrs, and at the same time, giving the injured people more time to rest. After a 30-minute lunch break, we pressed on at 1215hrs to find more upslope awaiting us.

This part of the trail was pretty busy relatively in terms of human traffic. We asked an elderly man coming from the opposite direction what to expect and he said something along the line, “ Not high, only 399metres!” Despite his advanced age, he looked much liveliercompared to us young people.

At 1405hrs, after some intensely-gratifying incline, we achieved the 399m peak of Kai Kung Shan at M64!

On top of Kai Kung Shan!

@ 399metres

That was the HIGHlight of stage 3. So when there’s up, there had to be down. We descended from Kai Kung Shan at 1420hrs through pretty steep stone steps and completed one of the toughest parts of the trek at 1540hrs, stopping in between M68 and M69 to enjoy the amenities (toilet, taps and vending machines!) and to regroup.

After much deliberation, we decided to evacuate the injured people from the end of stage 3 to prevent the worsening of their conditions. It was fortunate that maclehose trail was easily accessible to the outside world so evacuation could be performed easily. From 1540hrs to 1710hrs, we rested, used our octopus cards to buy drinks, relieved ourselves at the clean loos and reorganized our loads.

Stage 3 was no easy feat. We came to HK thinking that we could own MacLehose, but MacLehose owned us instead and claimed its first 3 victims. Shaking away regrets for not training harder and taking better care of our fellow teammates, we bade an emotional goodbye to our 3 comrades ( Nic, Melanie and Warren) after photo-taking and robbing them of their food and warm clothing… With heavy footsteps and even heavier hearts, we pressed on once more.

Together at end of Stage 3

Stage 3 of MacLehose trail was rated one of the toughest hikes on MacLeHose. Likewise, stage 4 was rated equally tough. According to the information board Zephan and I studied, we expected 2 tedious vertical ascents before we reached Ngong Ping campsite at M82. We considered our options carefully. There was a campsite just slightly beyond our current location that we could camp at. But if we were to do that, god knew how long would we be pushed back from our original plan. Falling behind schedule just on the second day was simply not advisable. Between that campsite and our destination campsite, there was no other campground. After consulting with the rest of the org comm and the senior trekkers (Tosh, Nic, Mei Lin, and Warren), we came to the conclusion that our objective for the day could not be negotiated. We had to reach M82.

It was tough breaking the news to the expedition team that stage 4 would in no way be easier; but they took it in their stride and geared up for the eventual night trek with their head torches. For the second consecutive day, we expected night trekking, and a longer duration of hiking in near darkness while we were at it.

Stage 4 began with a steep ascent via paved road ( Jon overtook everyone else while strolling nonchalantly and taking pictures idyllically) , which eventually flattened until M74, where our beloved steps awaited. Esther seemed to have recharged pretty well during the 1.5 hour break and charged on for the whole length of the flat grounds, setting an insane pace for the rest to keep up to. We arrived at M74 at 1754hrs to catch our breaths, prepped ourselves mentally for the approaching climb and took out our night gears for those who hadn’t done so.

One of Jon’s idyllic photos

After about 40 minutes of incline, we took a 10-minute break at M76. Towards M77, the dangers of night trekking turned nastily real when someone shouted for the front to halt as Emile had sprained her foot.

While most people with sprained ankles would winced in pain during bandaging, feisty Emile took charge and commanded Chiam to tie the bandage tighter and harder. The very demanding patient shrieked,” not tight enough!’ to sound off her disapproval with Chiam’s lack of strength in securing her sprain. Jokes aside, Emile was indeed remarkable. She handled her sprain like it was her old acquaintance and did not falter at all for the rest of the journey.

Emile taking matters into her own hands ^^

Once our dear patient was thoroughly satisfied with her bandage, we left at 1913hrs and ended our struggle with the ups at M78. Time check: 1956hrs.

I believed beyond M78 was a plateau of some sort. Lighting was horrible at 2000hrs- sun set at about 1800hrs- but I was pretty sure we were perched on top of the mountains. In the distant, lights from civilization can be seen clearly. A few planes flew past above us, and it set me thinking what the passengers would think if they looked down and saw a few stray lights (our headtorches) bobbing around in the darkness of the wilderness at such an ungodly hour haha.

Trekking in the dark, with the bright city lights visible in the distant

It was such a waste we couldn’t accomplish this part in daytime; the view would have been spectacular. Then again, the night had its mystic beauty and we avoided the sweltering heat of the sun. Instead, we combatted the strong winds, which at that elevation were undeterred by any obstructions

After enjoying the short reprieve through walking along the flat ridge, we descended painfully, in a knee-buckling manner, to reach more flat ground. Ngong Ping campsite was reached at 2140hrs.

Ngong Ping campsite was littered with cow dungs. One of the perpetrators came out to watch Tosh’s and my group cook our dinner. We saw its family the next day, coming out from amongst the bushes.

Team HarGao and Siew Mai found a few spots free of dungs and pitched the tents, placing the haversacks inside as the wind was strong enough to blow the tents away. Team Wanton went to the furthest ends of the campsite, which seemed like a more sheltered region. Smart choice!

Piping hot dinner in the freezing cold weather was immensely enjoyable. Our group decided to indulge in 1 can of grass jelly for dessert! Without any proper can-opener, Jon found a rock, which worked with a knife to open the can. To our horror, not only was the grass jelly peppered with powdered rock, it was also totally unsweetened. We gobbled most of it anyway.

Sated, we retreated into our humble abodes (tents) and rested our weary bodies for the night. Last thought: The worst was over… Right?

Day 3

4th December, 2011- A bit of stage 4, all of stage 5, 6, 7 and maybe even 8!

Day 3 Important Trekking Info:

Distance

- Remaining part of stage 4, stages 5, 6 and 7

- M82 to between M137 and M138

- About 27 km

- Trekking information with Terrain conditions

Stage 4 (continued)

- Left camp at 0808hrs - Descended to another campsite slightly beyond M85 at 0837hrs; smaller but cleaner and more sheltered from wind - At 0920hrs, before M89, we arrived at a nice wheat-field-like place. (don’t know the exact name of the plant) - We reached the end of stage 4 at 1050hrs.

Stage 5 - Set off at 1055hrs - The start of the stage 5 had us walking in thick foliage until somewhere around M97. - There was a nice rest pavilion slightly beyond M97, after descending flights of stairs.

- At this point, Wilson trail intersected with our MacLehose trail for the first time. - The trail had changed from dirt path to a descent via motor road beyond M97. - M100 in sight! We completed half of MacLehose trail at 1230hrs, and arrived at M101 at 1236hrs, where a shop selling food and water was bustling with business. A clean flushing toilet was nearby. Joel fell out at that point.

- Zephan sent him off and told us to move on first. He caught up with us soon enough while we were resting slightly before M108. Time check: 1608hrs. - Chloe got hyped up and set the pace for us to breeze through M111 to M115, with only a short 5-minute break in between, at a gigantic tombstone.

- Red-ass monkeys raided the last part of stage 5. - We arrived at the end of stage 5 at 1744hrs.

- While resting and gearing up for night trek until 1800hrs, the amazing duo of Kelvin and Siyuan caught up with us. They started 1 day after us.

Stage 6

- Set off at 1800hrs

- Chiam was feeling feverish after spending the first night without sufficient warm clothing.

- He persevered until M115 before falling out.

- With 5 members down, and gaining 2 members, our strength stood at 16 people.

- We headed out to Tai Po Road and did a D-tour via an overhead bridge instead of jay-walking to the other side.

- We headed down Tai Po Road and upon reaching an information board, I realised we missed our path to Kowloon Reservoir. - We backtracked and took Golden Hill Road into Kowloon Reservoir. The time was 1820hrs.

M116 was in sight a while later, signifying we were back on the right track.

- Stage 6 was an easy and short stage. Path was mainly a big, long and gradual-inclined motor road. Some good picnic spots along the start of Stage 6.

- Possible camping sites for probably 5 tents per picnic site.

- The motor road eventually led us to some steps, where we ascended to M123 at 1930hrs.

- Nice view of flats.

- Beyond M124, after some descent, was the end of stage 6.

- The time was 1953hrs.

- Flushing toilets, running taps, BBQ pits and benches with tables were available for use.

- Some Hong Kongers were having BBQ.

- The place would make a good campsite.

- We decided to have our dinner there.

Stage 7

- After dinner, we set off at 2110hrs.

- Incredibly tiring uphill from start of stage 7, around M126 to M127.

- We saw Needle Hill somewhere beyond M128. It was a frightening prospect to scale that hill.

- Conquered Needle Hill at 2225hrs, with great satisfaction.

- The team split up so that the people who could afford to go faster could reach the campsite first and take a longer rest.

- We descended from Needle Hill through steep steps and arrived at a motor road.

- The start of the motor road had a big concrete clearing. Possible space for campsite.

- The incline motor road led us up towards Grassy Hill. M131 was reached at 2305hrs.

- After resting for 20 minutes, we moved on until beyond M135, then went down a steep descent.

- We arrived at Lead Mine Pass Campsite at 0120hrs.

- Team Pikachus did not managed to find the steep descent beyond M135.

- They decided to spent the night up there.

- Campsite: Lead Mine Pass Campsite is a fantastic campground that can accommodate 6 tents comfortably. The campsite is serviced by flushing toilets and running taps. There are benches. A pavilion providing shelter is nearby.

Duration

- Guidebook stated 5 hours for whole of stage 4. We took about 2 hours 40 minutesfor M82-M94.

- In total, we took about 7 hours for stage 4.

- Guidebook stated 3 hours for stage 5. We took 5 hours, excluding the 2-hour lunch break we had.

- Guidebook stated 1.5 hours for stage 6. We took 1 hour 50 minutes, including the time we got lost.

- Guidebook stated 2.5 hours for stage 7. We took 4 hours, excluding the time we spent for dinner in between stage 6 and 7.

- Our timings included break times.

Narrative

Day 3 morning was yet another struggle with the cold, made worse by the stronger winds and more biting cold at the higher altitude of Ngong Ping Campsite. I woke up to the howling of the winds and like the rest in my tent, I thought it was raining.

I headed out at 0600hrs, finally on time, and went around asking the rest to wake up as well. The best way of combatting the cold in any trek is to prepare something hot. Hence, I started boiling water, hoping to lure my teammates out by enticing them with hot Milo. Once Milo was ready, I peeked into my tent, ready to wake them up again… Only to find them all awake.

They were sitting up, but still wrapped up in their sleeping bags like cocoons. ZhiHua murmured something along the lines of, “sleeping bag got magnet…” I think JJ was the first to pluck up the courage to venture out of the warm tent. Quite a commendable effort for someone on his first trek! My discipline to get out of the tent on time was only gained during this trek. That was after years of trekking since J1…

Speaking of my tentmates, let me tell you more about JJ. He hopped around like the red-ass monkey we would encounter further down day 3, taking photos from weird vantage points, chilling at awesome scenic spots, and never breaking much sweat despite his torpedo-shaped haversack. Definitely one of the strongest members of the team!

Typical JJ perching himself on top of hard-to-reach vantage point

Then there’s Jon, one of the best photographers, and also whom I entrusted with the task of being the last man of the front group at many occasions. For someone who had been to Kilimanjaro, I bet MacLehose was indeed a walk in the park! FYI, he entitled his photo album “A Walk In the Hong Kong Park” on Facebook

The last tentmate was the designated group photographer for SMU, he himself hailing from NUS. Zhang ZhiHua!

One of ZhiHua’s works; If everyone but ZhiHua is in the photo, chances are that the picture must be taken by the designated SMUX trekking team photographer from NUS

Breakfast was pretty uneventful, except that Ying Liang burnt a hole in her pants. Luckily the hole was nowhere similar to Zephan’s. The usual cycle followed before we left the campsite at 0808hrs. We had a short briefing, warmed up then left. ZhiHua, JJ and Emile warmed up further by downing a can of beer. Not exactly healthy to have beer early in the morning though!

Tsing Tao Pi Jiu!

The initial Day 3 plan was to CHIONG until end of stage 8, so that we had lots of time to spare on the fourth and final day of trek. That would have been 37km, and if the guidebook’s timing served us accurately, we would have taken 12.5 hours.

After 2 days of failing to adhere to the stipulated timing, we knew better than to trust the guidebook anymore. The HK authority’s timing must be for trekkers who do the trail in parts and without any haversacks. Otherwise it’s a downright SCAM.

Keeping that in mind, while we strived to reach the end of stage 8, i.e. M156 where Twisk Campsite was located, we gave ourselves a bit of a leeway and planned to stop at Lead Mine Pass Campsite between M137 and M138 if it got too late.

The remaining portion of Stage 4 was quite easy. We reached the end, around M94, at 1050hrs. Along the way, slightly before M89, there was an interesting-looking wheat field that was photo-worthy. At the information board for stage 5, we could hear the sounds of children playing, probably junior scouts camping at the Gilwell Campsite.

Wheat field at stage 4

We set off for Stage 5 at 1055hrs. At this point, Joel’s leg injury worsened and we decided yet again to split up and regroup at lunch point.

This stage was unique in that many war relics were preserved along the trail. However, these relics weren’t of much interest; they were mostly marker stones and shallow caves. Nonetheless, this stage did have other interesting things.

For instance, the first intersection with Wilson Trail.

MacLehose Meets Wilson

The mid-point of MacLehose Trail was also in stage 5. At 1230hrs, we officially completed 50% of MacLehose when we passed by M100.

With distance post M100!

Perhaps most interesting of all, at M101, WE FOUND A FOOD STORE!

Food store at M101

Once Team Pikachus caught up with the front team, we purchased cooked meals for our lunch- fish balls, Siew Mai, bean curd, beef curry (highly recommended), noodles and vegetable rice! A clean flushing toilet was also in the vicinity.

Just some of the food we ate after being deprived of cooked lunch for 2 days

We replenished our water supply, enjoyed our meals and took a long break for about 2 hours, hoping that the morale-booster from the nice food and long break would help us last us through our inevitable night trek.

Joel, after bearing with cramps since the very first day, fell out at that point. Zephan sent him off and instructed us to move on first at 1430hrs while he played catch-up with us. He managed to catch up with us at 1608hrs, while we were taking a break before M108.

Zephan caught up with us after escorting Joel back (He took a dump on the way and was almost discovered! Details of the adventure? Ask him personally J )

The previous day, Esther unleashed her force and showed us what pace we should be trekking at. For this day, Chloe became the pacesetter and egged us on to storm through M111 to M115, with only a short 5-minute break in between, at a gigantic tombstone.

The departed providing us with a nice place to rest our feet.

Towards the end of stage 5, red-ass monkeys terrorised the place. Esther and Mei Lin were exceptionally frightened by these creatures, but thank goodness none of us were attacked by them. We arrived at the end of stage 5 at 1744hrs.

Resting at end of stage 5 before speedy Kelvin and Siyuan found us

Night was about to fall when Kelvin and Siyuan appeared. They had performed what we did for the past 3 days in 2 days! Rather than welcoming the duo with loud cheers, we were instead so stunned in bewilderment at their prowess that we were sort of left speechless. M1 to M115 in two days sounded quite impossible, knowing what we went through. Haha a few of us actually got quite suspicious (erhemEsther erhem) and demanded picture proof.

To squash rumours once and for all, here are the picture evidences!!!

Kelvin doing a jump shot at Stage 1

Siyuan peed off/pretending to pee off at a high point at Stage 3

Kelvin at stage 4 with the distinctive wheat plants

Siyuan at stage 5, descending towards the food place at M101!

I’ve checked. None of the pictures were photoshopped =D So they did do it in 2 days. Take that, Esther!!

We gave our sore legs a well-deserved rest until 1800hrs. Night fell. Instinctively by then, we took out our headtorches in preparation for the uber long night trek. That was end of Stage 5. If we stuck to the original plan, that meant stage 6, 7 and 8 to go. No way man. I guessed that was when we decided to scale back our ambitions and target Lead Mine Pass campsite at end of stage 7 instead.

Chiam, feeling feverish after facing the cold with insufficient warm clothing, decided to fall out lest his fever worsened. Luckily, end of stage 5 was Tai Po Road, where transportation was convenient and available. We bade goodbye to yet another of our teammate. Thus far, MacLehose had cruelly robbed us of 5 of our teammates. Plus our 2 new entrants, the strength stood at 16 people.

The front group followed the MacLehose trail sign to cross over to the other side of Tai Po Road via a substantially longer D-tour over an overhead bridge. The back people witnessed our waste of energy and thought whether they should just jaywalk over to the other side.

Tai Po Road

So my worst nightmare came true at the start of Stage 6; I led the team in the wrong direction, failing to turn into Kowloon Reservoir via Golden Hill Road. That was despite Esther telling me she got a feeling (now I know what’s all the big deal about women’s intuition) that heading down Golden Hill Road should be the right way, but the stone marker pointed for us to walk down Tai Po Road…

It was only after reaching an information board did I realize that we were on the wrong track. Finding out that I led 15 people down the wrong path made my heart sink, especially since we were already so tired from the long day and should be preserving every single ounce of energy for the long night ahead. I hastily turned back and told the rest to backtrack with me. At the junction turning into Golden Hill Road, I consulted the information board and was relieved that this was indeed the right path. It was 1820hrs. I had set us back by 20 minutes. The expedition team accepted my apologies for my mistake and told me that it was totally alright, making me feel much less guilty and much better.

The rest of this short Stage 6 was basically ascending gradually via a motor road, reaching some stairs which would end at M123, then descending to a picnic place filled with BBQ aroma. Some HK people were barbequing at that spot, which was also serviced by flushing toilets and running taps. We achieved the end of Stage 6 at 1953hrs.

Probably not a very interesting stage, except that ZhiHua and I, being the frontmen, disturbed two monkeys in the midst of coitus, and the night view at M123 was beautiful.

What we saw at M123 (Matt’s digital camera is fantastic at taking night shots)

So, once again, we were in quite a tight spot. It was really late already, and we got stage 7 left to deal with. We reached a decision to have dinner first, so by the time we reached our campsite, we could just set up the tents and crash. Moreover, the spot we were at had running taps; washing of mess tins and utensils would be quick.

Zephan and I ran through some of the pertinent issues we would face from trekking so late at night. The energy level of the team would be extremely low, so we feared that some of us would not be alert enough to complete Stage 7 safely. Thoughts of setting up camp at where we were at crossed our minds, but if we did that, the next day would be crazy for us. We would have to do stage 7, 8, 9 and 10. Another option was to cut short our expedition by not doing the last one or two stages. Otherwise, we would need to extend our trek by another day in order to finish the 100km, and find ways to deal with resupplying our food and water when we need to do so.

We concluded that we would push on and stopped at any possible campsites, designated or not, if it got too late.

After an hour plus dinner break, we set off at 2110hrs. The start of stage 7 dealt us with some of the worst uphill we had encountered. By then, the thoughts in my mind had dumbed down to, “ I’m cold”, “I’m hungry” and “are we there yet?”

Outwardly expressed to ZhiHua, who had been at the front with me throughout most of the trek, the words were all the expletives in Hokkien (knnccb), Chinese (tmd), English ( starts with F and it’s not fruit; starts with S and it’s not sheet) and the recently acquired Cantonese catch phrase (something to do with mother). We distracted our minds from feeling the aches in our calves and the soreness in our soles by trading expletives

Somewhere beyond M128, we made out a path in the distant darkness that looked like a… NEEDLE POINTING SKYWARDS. You got to be kidding; there was no way we were going up that! Up till this point, MacLehose had largely skirted past prominent peaks such as Ma On Shan, to our great relief. ZhiHua and I supposed that this was once again the same case.

Then it dawned upon me that the blog I read about for information on MacLehose trail had mentioned the frightfulness of a certain NEEDLE HILL. This could be it.

As we drew closer to that seemingly vertical path, our hopes of skirting past this obstacle got more and more remote, until a certain point when we stopped deluding ourselves and admitted that yes, we got to climb that !@#$% hill. We conquered Needle Hill at 2225hrs, and that was incredibly satisfying for many of us.

Up the needle!

532m! “Not the tallest; but definitely the steepest” –ZhiHua

Excited by the prospects of owning Needle Hill, we did what we hadn’t in a long while… TAKE PHOTOS!

With Matt, one of the tankers, perched on top of Needle Hill, surrounded bythe city lights visible in the far distance

With Chloe and Joyce; they said they had little or no trekking experience, but their tenacity served them really well

Again, what goes up must come down… Ascent to Needle Hill was STEEP. Likewise, the descent was just as bad. With the force of our own weights, the haversacks and gravity, descent got pretty painful on our knees, going down became even slower than going up sometimes.

The team decided to split up so that those with cramps and knee injury could take their time to descend. We arrived at a motor road after coming down from Needle Hill, and it was this sort of big open path for the remaining of Stage 7 until beyond M135, where we went down yet another steep descent to finally reached Lead Mine Pass Campsite at 0120hrs.

While we were at our campsite, team Pikachus struggled with finding the last descent down to us. Instead, they went up all the way to Grassy Hill, going back and forth between the peak and M135, and finally decided to call it a day and set up camp. Luckily, they had all the things they needed. Tents, stoves, water and food.

Tosh’s Perspective [From Needle Hill to Grassy Hill]

04 December 2011

Mei Lin was trying very very hard. Strange thing is, she could travel up stairs tirelessly, but only feel the pain in her ankle when travelling downwards. I was bemoaning at the unavailability of fresh oxygen at night when the plants are not photosynthesizing, stairs up was really not good for my injury. Emile was careful not to aggravate her sprain, while encouraging everyone on our advances. Zephan moved like a monkey, swinging from rock to rock, trails to trails to check out the path beyond and watch our back.

After the needle hill stint, everyone was tired. We sawheadlights at a distance; everyone was way ahead, while we pushed on. The wind was getting chilly as the night drew deeper, we couldn’t wait to catch up with the rest and get some rest at the camp site.

Eugene’s SMS at approx1130pm : When you see the intersection between Lead Mine Pass and Grassy hill, go towards grassy hill.

At that moment, I remembered clearly that we were heading to Lead Mine Pass campsite, but oh well, I’m just going to carry on walking.

Day 4 (Early Morning)

05 December 2011

By 1215am, we were all sleepy, and there were so many slopes, worst condition to be isolated. Cold, tired and sleepy, and a little hungry. We took a rest at the side, energy bars for a little recharge (which didn’t work very well, still very sleepy.)

1230am : We reached M135, while campsite’s at M137. We are nearing the campsite! 1km more! We followed the path, and reached a flat ground to what it seems to be a summit. Wait a min, no path beyond? Zephan went higher to scout, and we still see no path.

We called Eugene, but to no avail as the reception at the summit was bad. We decided to walk back to M135. Some SMSes got through and Eugene mentioned that after M135, there are supposed to be some steps that we can take, to go downwards to the campsite.

We backtracked to M135, in hope of finding the stairs he mentioned, but we did not see anything. Even after peering into some bushes which seemed like a possible path, but we did not see anything.

1255am : We tried calling Eugene again, and the same message was conveyed : after M135, there are stairs down. We advanced, and still did not see anything, then went back to M135 again. The wind was getting stronger.

0100am : The reception was bad, but we tried and tried, still could not find the path. We sat down, with the cold wind blowing at us, it really seemed that we are LOST. Emile mentioned that she had the thought that we might have to camp by the roadside, and it really came true! I had this little imagination hours before, and to think it’s going to come true right before my eyes!

We tried to search around for one last time, STILL no avail.

Inventory check :Zephan had a tent, we have food, and all of us are equipped with thermal sleeping bags and decent windbreaker.

0140am :We decided to camp at the roadside, found a suitable space, and set up the tent in a swift fashion. Talk about sense of urgency because everyone was tired and sleepy. For some reason I decided to keep a yellow lightstick with me, and there I managed to find a use! Hung it outside the tent, and we started settling down into the tent. The wind was still blowing, everyone was cold, and a little distraught, but we kept a cheerful mind and laughed it all out.

0200am : This is a rare moment, I mean, what are the chances in life that you are caught in this situation? Well we camwhored! It gave us some laughs and immediately we felt warm. I slept without my jacket in my sleeping bag, it was that effective! Very quickly we slept.

0600am :Alarm was ringing, snoozed like a boss

0620am :Alright time to wake up! Had breakfast in the tent, yummy bread with Nutella, everything tastes heavenly at this very situation. We decided to make haste, so that we could catch up with the rest. Emile had her usual morning nature’s call again. We collapsed the tent, kept it in a swift motion again, did our stretches, and set off to find the oh-so-invisible stairs.

Just a short walk up from M135, we saw it! And seriously, we would never thought of exploring that part, only if we want to commit suicide as it seemed like jumping off a cliff!

It was all stairs down downdown, with breakfast on the way, and eventually we see M136, our spirits were high as we trudged down further and reached M137 quickly.

Following the sign to lead mine pass camp site, we see the public toilet, and eventually met up with the rest! I guess that sums up this part of the most exciting adventure of the Pikachus!

Kudos to Mei Lin, Tosh, Zephan and Emile! Winners are those who make the best out of the worst situations and had fun

Day 4

5th December, 2011- Let’s end it.

Day 4 Important Trekking Info:

Distance

- Stages 8, 9 and 10

- Between M137 and M138 to M200

- About 32 km

- Trekking information with Terrain conditions

Stage 8

- Left camp at 0745hrs - Leading up from Lead Mine Pass Campsite was a wide open space with big boulders.

- The beautiful and enjoyable ridgeline walk persisted as we descended some steps to reach a motor road.

- A rest pavilion was present near to the start of the motor road.

- The scenic stage 8 climaxed at the top of Tai Mo Shan, tallest mountain in HK at 957m.

- We arrived at the top at 1030hrs.

- Winding but nice motor road down from the peak, which changed to a descent via dirt path and stairs before we reached the end of stage 8 slightly beyond M155.

- Time was approximately 1300hrs when the last group of people reached the rest point.

- End of stage 8 had flushing toilets. We rested and had lunch.

- Melanie, Warren, Joel, Chiam and Nic came looking for us! They brought along food stuff and drinks (gong cha!) to motivate us for the final 2 stages. We transferred needless load and even a few haversacks to them.

Stage 9 - Set off at 1415hrs after psyching ourselves up and warming up. - Stage 9 was probably the easiest. Relatively flat terrain and only certain gradual incline.

- We decided to chiong to the end at M168.

- Arrived at M168 but found no information board for Stage 10; only information board for Stage 9.

- Hence we continued on to M169, arriving at M169 at 1621hrs.

- Still no information board, but at least we were on the right track.

Stage 10

- Our front group set off at 1700hrs after back group caught up with us at M169.

- Yet another easy stage with unchallenging and uninteresting terrain.

- We arrived at M180 at 1838hrs.

- The front team rested for 30 minutes until the back team caught up and overtook us at 1908hrs!

- It was non-stop action for the next 20 markers, i.e. 10km; we pressed on without any long breaks.

- Completed 100km MacLehose trail at 2205hrs.

- Campsite: Ah Shan Hostel. Friendly and accommodating stuff with really clean rooms.Flushing toilets and running taps. Oh. Not to forget BEDS and SOFT FLUFFY PILLOWS.

Duration

- Guidebook stated 4 hours for stage 8. We took 5 hours.

- Guidebook stated 2.5 hours for stage 9. We took 2 hours.

- Guidebook stated 5 hours for stage 10. We took 5 hours.

- Our timings included break times, but excluded rest times in between stages 8 and 9, and stages 9 and 10.

Narrative

We had to complete the longest distance of 32km for our final day of trek. Not so sure how we would be doing it, but just like the past 3 days, we would see what came our way and dealt with it accordingly. A few of us probably thought we would night trek and end just in time for breakfast!

The morning started out well however; we were finally eating by 0630hrs instead of still rotting in the tents. By the time Zephan, Tosh, Mei Lin and Emile found their way to us, we were in the final stages of packing.

We set off at 0745hrs and warmed up our legs by ascending into the gorgeous ridgeline preceding the tallest mountain HK can offer, Tai Mo Shan at 957m. We arrived at the peak of Tai Mo Shan at 1030hrs. Progress could have been faster, but the view was too awesome to be rushed through, so we took in the surrounding scenery while keeping an acceptable pace.

The path seemed surreal, almost dreamy.

Zephan, Mei Lin and Tosh among the many boulders there were scattered around the ridge

From Tai Mo Shan, it was a winding road down. The road had lots of shortcuts but wanting to honour the integrity of the 100km trail, we went down the longer way.

Winding roads to get down from Tai Mo Shan

We hit a dirt path after being directed off the road by the MacLehose stone marker and continued our way downwards, finally reaching the end of stage 8, approximately 300 steps of descent from M155 (ZhiHua got so distraught that he counted the steps to keep his mind off the pain from walking down the steps). Everyone reached our rest/lunch point by about 1300hrs, and we got a nice surprise when Melanie, Warren, Nic ,Chiam and Joel came to look for us with gifts of food and drinks! We decided to lessen our loads further and passed them more of our stuff, including a few haversacks. Warren rejoined us for the Stage 9 and 10 while the rest helped with bringing back the excess baggage.

Rejuvenated by our resup team! Somewhere before M156, the start of stage 9.

With our loads mostly relieved, we felt extremely light, and consequently, very happy. We readied to leave at 1415hrs, all prepped to conquer the final 2 stages.

Relieving of the loads was liberating. MacLehose Trail finally felt like a walk in the park, and I believed the help from the resup team was pivotal in helping us breeze through stages 9 and 10. For the very first time, we completed two stages back to back within the stipulated timing of the guidebook!

No doubt, stages 9 and 10 were also relatively easier compared to the rest. Even the shortest and supposedly easiest stage 6 had roads with steeper gradients and killer steps to reach the vantage point for the view of the high-rise flats.

Random fun fact: Did you know you can create a spark using your walking stick? ZhiHua managed to do so towards the end of stage 10 by simply walking as per normal with the stick. That kept Esther and Ying Liang very motivated, engrossed and focused with ZhiHua’s stick.

While people like me who were relatively injury-free had it easy, there were a handful others suffering from sprains, abrasions, blisters, muscle aches and etc who kept going on. So let’s hear it from the standpoint of Mei Lin, one of the Pikachus! Despite lagging behind for most of the trek, they found their momentum at the critical moment and burst right past the front group to complete the trek in good time!

Mei Lin’s Perspective

So Eugene asked me to write about our Pikachu story for the last 2 stages, after the others met up with us to feed us with food and to lessen our load. Was very thankful for them, they made life much easier for us after that. Melanie was jumping around happily trying to encourage everyone, and kindly took off the ankle guard she was wearing and gave it to me. SO NICE!! My ankles had been hurting since the start of day 3. Anyway after that, my trek bag was gone and I was just holding on to my dear trekking stick, with essential items in the pockets, mainly headlamp as we know we would definitely be hitting night trek, again.

Just around 20km more to the end! I still remember Nicholas asking me if I was continuing the last 2 stages with the rest, since I was already in quite a bad shape that time. And the answer was of course a yes. Luckily the last 2 stages were only 1 star in difficulty with relatively flat ground. Adopting Chloe’s “one step at a time” attitude, we moved on from stage 9. Walking and walking, the distance between the front group and us was increasing and slowly they couldn’t be seen.

Self-estimated time when we reach the end point: around 1amhaha.

The front group most probably would have already reached and washing up at Ah Shan hostel. Felt guilty and bad to those who accompanied me since I was prolonging their suffering and depriving them of their rest time, namely Emile, Tosh, Zephan and Warren. Thankssssss very very much to you all!

Stage 9 was mainly walking on the road in the forest and no scenery to see along the way. Walk walkwalk and still walking, taking short constant breaks along the way. I think even a baby can crawl faster than me and I was even slower than a grandma. Well, there were some interesting things that happened along the way. Warren, for the don’t know how many times, wanted to pee again. So he asked us to move on first while he does his business by the tree. THEN!!!! We moved on then we hear a van coming from the front and would 99.999% spot Warren when it drove pass. Lucky he was fast and furious and according to him, he only pee-ed halfway and continued after the van was gone haha!

We were starting to get hungry. Sat by the roadside and munched on our energy bars, bread and Tosh’s trail mix. Food and water started to get low on supply. Even the mighty and strong Zephan had abrasions and started to walk with his legs slightly apart hahaha!! Then the darkness started to creep in and before we know, our headlamps were already on. Oh and Emile had to answer to nature’s call and wanted to find a spot to settle it. She had already picked a spot, but when Zephan’s ultimate bright bright black diamond swept across the area, we saw shadows of pokey pokey little animals all around the area. PORCUPINES OMG!!! & we hurried off and Emile finally answered to the call a distance away from the scary porcupines. HAHA.

We walked until this end where the journey ahead was a flight of stairs up. So we decided to take our dinner first before moving up. We sat on some sewage structure and ate our bread, with nutella and condensed milk. It was a super chop chop one, as there was no time to lose! Taking a deep breath, I started walking up the flight of stairs and perhaps that was the time when a miracle happened haha.

But before that, we were walking then we came to this crossroad, with 2 signboards pointing to different reservoirs. We couldn’t remember the name of the reservoir so we were stuck there for a while. Could not contact Eugene. The thing was, we were standing beside a small temple, with the altar and figurines, was a little freaky but too tired to think too much though. Lucky we went onto the correct path.

Then I realized I was walking at a much faster speed. Unbelievable. I don’t know why, perhaps it was the dinner or the momentum from climbing the flight of stairs or just plain numbness in my legs. BEFORE WE KNEW IT, WE CAUGHT UP WITH THE FRONT GROUP!!! They were having a break.I was like OMG, damn touching leh!! The feeling of catching up with the front group when you are lagging much muchmuch behind cannot be described in words.( k la maybe my engrish not zai enough hahaha.)

Anyway anyway, the pikachus decided not to rest again since we just took a break not long ago, and mainly to “preserve” the momentum I had. I could feel that if I stop, it would be goneeeeeee and gonna walk like ah ma again. So yeah, we overtook them, where Eugene kindly agreed for my sake, haha. What happened after that was what they called it, “speed spurt”. Legs felt like how they were before starting on the 100km. Every marker was a motivation for the next and the next, till the 200th one. The last part was walking by the reservoir and flat ground all the way. WE COULD SEE BUILDINGS ALONG THE WAY. CIVILISATION!!!!!!!!!!!!! Damn exciteddddddddd. 194, 195, 196, 197, 198….. Closer and closer!!! But I remember I was whining to them, like why don’t the trail slowly lead us down to the end point. There was this part where we had to go upslope again. Then at the 199th marker! OMGGGG. 500 more meters to go! But what lies ahead was a long longlonglong journey downslope with stairs, and the pain in my legs were already kicking in. Tosh was in front and we just kept going down. Seems like a never-ending downslope, I kept asking if we were reaching.

THEN THE MOMENT CAME! WE REACHED THE BOTTOM OMGGGGGG. DAMN HAPPY UNTIL CAN CRY. Finally completed the 100km!!!!! YAY! Time check: 9.50pm!(Editor’s note: 15 minutes ahead of the last guy!)And not the 1am as previously estimated… THE END! J

The SiewMais!

The HarGaos; still got energy to jump!

The Wantons!

And the finishers

M200- Initially, I dreaded the thought of going through 200 markers, 100km. When M200 was finally achieved, a profound sense of loss took over that feeling of dread. The fun was over. It was exhilarating and awe-inspiring while it lasted. Best of all, I got to do it with a bunch of like-minded crazies. The End… For now until next time!

Photo Credits: everyone with a camera on the trip

Written By: Eugene Yeo, Trek IC